This is a blog about life, entertainment, animals, Patrick Swayze, Alfie Boe, Stargate SG-1, Michael Shanks, and whatever is happening in the world, or at least my part of it. It's my views and the bits and pieces of my daily life, for whomever would like to hear them.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

I have been waiting for this for years. Since I returned to watching NASCAR circa 2005, I have been irritated by Kyle Busch, the younger brother of Kurt Busch. At the time, he was part of Hendrick Motorsports, and that made me cringe. The two worst teammates for my favorite, Jeff Gordon, have been Busch and Jimmie Johnson. Both are extremely self-serving and rationalize everything away. I watched Jeff help them and get the door slammed in his face over and over again.

Finally, Hendrick had an opportunity to expunge Busch from their presence. He landed at Joe Gibbs Racing where the religious Joe Gibbs has vowed to rein in the young driver, much as Roger Penske has done for the still vocal, but now more sensible, Kurt Busch.

The elder and arrogant Busch found himself in hot water after getting arrested and being rude, shall we say, to the Phoenix Police Department. His then car owner, Jack Roush, parked him. Between that and Penske's subtle guidance, and also with a nod to marriage, Kurt Busch has become much more likable. He's no saint and he's strongly vocal, not all in good ways, but his demeanor has changed significantly. He learned, and he's tried to teach Kyle, but the younger Busch is still leaning towards arrogance, even though he's now married as well.

Kyle Busch has claimed to be a different person now, but in the truck race Friday night, he and Ron Hornaday had a minor skirmish. Kyle totally blamed Hornaday. I was watching the incident as it happened. It was a 3-wide situation with Hornaday in the middle. He was a bit of a ping pong ball, and he was definitely loose when he and Kyle had contacted.

Here's the thing. Neither truck was all that damaged. A pit stop, and both could have gone on and finished well, perhaps even winning the race. However, with the yellow flag out, Kyle intentionally rammed Hornaday into the wall. Hornaday's truck bounced around in Kyle's, taking out both trucks.

NASCAR immediately parked Kyle's truck for the race and ordered him to the hauler after the race. They repeated that command for this morning and included the Gibbs' contingent. Then Mike Helton made the announcement: Kyle Busch would be parked for both the Nationwide race today and the Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

Well, it's about time! Like I said, I've been watching Busch's one-sided antics for years. No one denies he's a great driver; his record shows that. However, he lacks maturity and sensitivity. In short, he's a jerk, and what happened in the race proves that he has not changed a bit.

NASCAR's "have at it, boys" policy has been beneficial, but this time, Kyle crossed the line so much that the governing body had to act, and they did. More penalties may follow, and more bad things may occur for the still-arrogant Kyle Busch. After all, I've always wondered why child-friendly M&M's would want to sponsor someone like Kyle.

Who knows? Maybe now, they won't!

Regardless, this feels like sweet justice, long overdue. It took years, but finally, NASCAR responded.